Atlanta is slowly fixing its aging sewer pipes and plants that for years polluted the
Chattahoochee River --- a "Herculean" task, according to Mayor Bill Campbell.

During Campbell's administration, the city has committed $2.6 billion to fixing the
problems. On Monday, the mayor announced another $1.9 billion infusion during the next 14
years --- long after he's left office at the end of this year. The investment, paid for
with bonds, a possible privatization of the sewer system and almost certain rate
increases, should knock the federal monkey off the city's back.

"No city in America in the next 10 years will have a better ecological (sewer)
system," Campbell said at a news conference.

Campbell likened the city's sewers to a 100-year-old man who shows up at a hospital
emergency room, barely walking and unable to talk.

The city is having to resuscitate him "under the scrutiny of the courts and the
media," Campbell said.

That may be true, said John Hankinson Jr., regional administrator of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, but "the patient had been to the emergency room
earlier and hadn't been properly treated."

The pointed remark was aimed at past efforts by the city to apply Band-Aids when
transplants were in order.

Since a costly 1995 lawsuit went against Atlanta and a federal order that came down
several years ago, the city has worked to fix its sewage system. .

The new plan starts today, when an Atlanta City Council committee discusses a more than
$100 million program management contract with Montgomery Watson Inc. to oversee
construction for at least five years.

After years of knocking heads with city leaders, federal and state regulators praised
Atlanta's efforts. Under a 2-year-old consent decree that spells out thousands of tasks
and deadlines, Atlanta has paid $4.1 million in fines. The promise offered Monday is that
those days are over.

"I am delighted with the progress that's being made now," Hankinson said.

State Environmental Protection Division Director Harold Reheis congratulated the mayor
and Atlanta City Council on what he said were "great improvements" in the city's
sewers. Instead of lagging, Reheis said the city will lead the nation with a revitalized
waste water system.

One critic said the city should have made the investment long ago.

"Bill Campbell's been aware of this problem now for 15 years," said Steve
Carr, a neighborhood environmental watchdog. "The city of Atlanta would not be doing
what it's doing without the lawsuit by the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. It just
wouldn't be."